Riven Build Guide by Hai Am Ryan

Introduction

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Welcome to my Riven guide.

I'd like to start of by saying that so far I've havn't lost my top lane as Riven once and I've played her for a while ;).

Riven is without a doubt one of my favourite champions within League Of Legends, and if played and built properly can become unstoppable and Totally Dominate the top lane. Riven is a tanky dps, but is no way an off tank and should not be used for that.

Riven does have to be tanky so she is able to dash in and around fights, picking off the Carry and then cleaning up the rest of the enemy team and has to be able to survive while doing this. If played correctly Riven and her team mates can quickly mop up the enemy team in a short amount of time.

This guide does require you to be aggressive, which in my opinion is the only way to play Riven as she has such strong early and mid games which can lead into having a great late game. To point out when I say aggressive I DO NOT mean charging into the enemy ("don't be a foot eater" - Dave). I mean get up in their face (if possible) and harass as much as you can, and force fights. Riven is extremely good early and mid game and you should take advantage and exploit that as much as you can.

I'd like to explain why I max my shield/dash second and leave my stun to last, for me I'm aggressive and love the shield which allows me to soak up the enemy's burst leaving me at full hp most off the time and leaving the enemy either dead or very low. I also like to have my shield when I'm being ganked as it not only helps me get away but can also help me get a kill in this situation and then get away safely. I max my stun last because I don't rely on its damage, I only tend to use it just to stop the opponent for a short amount of time allowing me to get my burst in.

Here is an example of what Riven is capable of.

Notice in the video how Riven had an tank champion with her to help take away some off the focus ( Alistar).

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NOTE : DO NOT JUST FOLLOW THE BUILD ABOVE, USE IT AS A GUIDE AND IT ADJUST TO YOUR SITUATION. IF YOU FIND YOURSELF AGAINST AN AP CHAMP GO FOR THE MR ITEMS FIRST, IF YOU FIND YOU NEED MORE SURVIVABILITY PUT MORE POINTS INTO YOUR SHIELD. BUILD DEPENDING ON THE CURRENT SITUATION YOU ARE IN.

Pros / Cons

Pros: + High mobility + Shield that increases with AD + AOE Stun with damage + Manaless + Ultimate is great + Tanky

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Cons: - Needs good timing for her skills - A lot of CC can shut her down - Cooldown dependent - Bad starts can be hard to recover with - Can cause over confidence

Runes

Since I've spent a good few hours in the shop looking at all the different runes and reading what each one does I've decided these are the most effective for Riven players.

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Greater Mark of Attack Damage These are great and will help you make that early game even better, combined with your armour penetration masteries your opponent shouldn't stand a chance ;).

Greater Seal of Armor For me these runes are a must for all the champions I play and give you great starting defence stats meaning your enemies can't harass and poke you for as much as they would like.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist In the past I have started with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist mainly to try and cancel out the amount of damage an AP champion could do it me early game, but since then I have realised Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist are a much greater use later on in the late game stages as I don't tend to go for flat out MR items.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage Just like the Greater Mark of Attack Damage these give a great early start and advantage.

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Masteries

Masteries - I don't think I need to explain in great detail the Masteries I've chosen for Riven.

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All the masteries are straight forward and self explanatory when it comes to Riven, they all focus around the point that she is a Manaless Tanky DPS with some serious burst. That is why we take things Sorcery , Deadliness and Sunder . So your able to spam her skills as much as you want, so you can go in the fight ignore most off that champions defensive stats and items and burst them down.

It's the same when we come to the defensive masteries, we put more points in Hardiness as you're more likely to come across another AD champ in top lane. We then take things like Durability and Veteran's Scars so we can make our Tanky DPS champion Tanky from start to finish off a game.

Summoner Spells

Depending on the enemy team and your own team Riven can use a variety of different summoner spells which can not only help you but your whole team.

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Flash Can be very helpful and can let you get in and out off fights quick and easy especially combined with your Q and E.

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Ignite Is great for getting those Early kills safely or stopping a champion such a Dr. Mundo or Warwick from healing.

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Heal You obviously know what this does, helps more early - mid games, especially against those hard Solo Tops who have as much burst as you and can shred your shield (IM LOOKNG AT YOU Olaf!).

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Exhaust Is a great summoner spell and every team should have it at least once, taking it as Riven means you can get a good burst on your opponent safely regardless of who they are, you can also use it on the enemies AD carry late game to stop his burst.

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Teleport Is great for any solo top player, it means you can go back buy and then be back in your lane again to stop it from being pushed, you can also use it to teleport to Sight Wards around to map to help gank or do dragon.

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Cleanse I guess you could take this if your Mercury's Treads arn't doing it for you or if you didnt take them. Cleanse can be used well with Riven since you can use it and then combined ur Q's and E's to escape from ganks.

Rotations And Skills

A Basic Escape Sequence:

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I know it may seem not needed but I thought I would let people know incase they were not sure how. Basically just use Broken Wings followed by Valor. If your being ganked start off with Valor so your shield can soak up most of the burst while you use Broken Wings to carry on escaping.

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A Basic Combo/Damage Rotation:

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Basically what we're trying to do here is use Valor to get up to our oponent and soak up their burst and then use Ki Burst so we're able to then start our burst/rotation safely, which starts with Broken Wings and then should be repeated while using Valor to keep up with them and using Ki Burst to keep slowing them down.

If your above level 6 and Blade of the Exile is not on cooldown then you should use Blade of the Exile as soon as possible in order to do as much damage as possible. You should use the second part of Blade of the Exile as an execution like Garen's Demacian Justice.

You should also make sure you have as many charges of Riven's passive as possible. Riven's passive is Runic Blade which increases the amount off damage your auto attacks will deal and can be a big help in getting kills.

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Each time you use one of Riven's abilities it gives her a charge on her blade that deals bonus damage on your next auto attack to the target. Each swing of Broken Wings, a Ki Burst, a Valor dash, or her Blade of the Exile activation will give her a charge, which can stack up to a maximum of three.

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This is your basic damage output skill. Making sure u land everyone of the swings on the enemy is the key to doing the maximum amount of burst. You should always keep in mind that each slash will also add a stack of Runic Blade so taking the time to auto attack inbetween each slash is a good idea if possible.

You should also note that the 3rd slash of Broken Wings knocks back all nearby enemies and can be used to disrupt the enemy positions, knock them towards one of your towers or knock them away from a fleeing ally.

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At first you might think a half second stun may be a bit pathetic, but don't underestimate it, it is a fantastic interrupt on any champs that rely on combos or channeling such as Katarina's Death Locust.

It can also be a good way to stop a fleeing enemy and give you time to knock them back using Broken Wings. The small duration is also enough time for you to safely start off your burst without any interrupts and can allow you to keep up with them once they turn and start to run.

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Valor is such a useful skill and can mean life or death, or kill or no kill. When used correctly Valor allows you to either dash up to the enemy with a shield which increases its strength the more AD you have, which will then allow to soak up most the enemies initial burst rotation and start yours, or to quickly dash away to safely.

Combining Valor, Broken Wings and Flash together effectivly can make it almost impossible for an enemy champion to chase Riven down.

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This is Riven's ultimate and is basically Riven on roids, it increases her attack damage by 20% meaning Runic Blade, Broken Wings and Ki Burst will do more damage and increase Valor's shield. Blade of the Exile also increases Riven's range on her abilities and basic attacks.

Wind Slash is the second part of Blade of the Exile which is basically a ranged version of Garen's Demacian Justice and should mostly be used to finish off enemy champions although it can be used to lower the enemy teams health if they are low enough so the rest off your team can pick up the kills a lot easier.

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Some Extra Tricks that you'll want to know

Here I'm going to tell you some nice little tricks that you might not know about and could help you get out of some sticky situations.

First off both Broken Wings and Valor ignore unit collision and can be used to pass through minions to either help you chase down enemies quicker or escape. For example you could be ganked by Kennen and could use Broken Wings or Valor to dash through your creep wave causing his Thundering Shuriken to hit them, letting you get away nice and safe while he tries to navigate around the creep wave.

Second, both Broken Wings and Valor can also be used to pass through small walls like Anivia's Crystallize or Jarvan IV's Cataclysm meaning you can escape in just about all situations. NOTE : YOU CAN NOT PASS THROUGH TERRAIN WITH THEM.

Finally, you should also make a note to yourself that both Broken Wings and Valor can be countered and be unable to be used by snares such as Maokai's Twisted Advance. So beware of champions such as him and try to avoid snares as best as you can. One reason why Mercury's Treads or Cleanse is a good idea when playing Riven.

Must Have Items

These items that I feel are a must have while playing Riven they ensure that she stays tanky while being able to deal decent amounts of damage.

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First, Frozen Mallet, this item gives you a nice chunk of health, some AD and it's passive combined with Riven's abilities makes it hard for enemies to escape from you.

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This item gives you a lot of AD (100 at max stacks), you can have multiple of them and the passives stack (2x The Bloodthirster = 200 AD at max stacks) and give you a good amount of sustain with the lifesteal it gives (20 Life Steal at max stacks).

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Lastly is the Mercury's Treads I think these are a must for a Riven or atleast something that can be used in it's place such as Cleanse or a Quicksilver Sash. I say it's a must because of the tenacity it gives meaning that CC's don't last as long, meaning you can't be shut down as easy.

Situational Items

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This item gives the most amount of MR in the game, it's crazy health regen and increased movement speed are also things that will help you out a lot in certain situations. If you having trouble with AP champs like Vladimir, Brand and any other AP champion that can do a lot of damage then the Force of Nature is for you.

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What? Mana on Riven ? But Ryan Riven is manaless?! I don't care about the mana you gain from the item just the Health (which is a decent amount), the MR (also a decent amount that will ease down the burst from AP champs) and the shield which can block any champion ability.

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This item is great and can not only help you but the rest of your team. With Armor, health, health regen and passives which gives you CDR and lets you not only slow one enemy but the whole enemy team.

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I'm sure all of you reading this guide are aware of what thornmail is and what it can do, but just incase I'll explain it. It gives the most amount of armor in the game and returns 30% of damage taken back to them as magic damage. Basically if you have an Ashe or Graves with a lot of AD and Attack speed they will end up killing themselves.

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This item needs no explanation at all, it does exactly what it says on the tin, it gives a nice amount of Armor and Magic Resistance and allows you to have a second life and come back with a set amount of health if you mess up and die. Basically, they have to kill you twice to get a kill.


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This item is basically a second Ignite, it gives crit chance, life steal and each auto attack you do on an enemy puts a DoT on them and decreases the amount of healing and health regeneration. If you didn't take Ignite and want something like it, this is the item for you.

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Want some MR but want to be able to do more damage ? Then this item if for you, it increases your AD by a good amount, gives a nice amount of MR and has a mini Blitzcrank Passive.

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Want to take advantange of the Atma's Impaler? Then grab the item that gives the most AD in the game without stacking, if you really wanna hurt your oponents then pick up an Infinity Edge.

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I like to build this item on a few other champions that are Tanky DPS such as Warwick, it gives a nice amount of MR while increasing your Attack speed and deals bonus magic damage on each attack.

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Enemy team building armor? Can't kill people as fast as you'd like to? Then grab a Last Whisper. Since all of Riven's attacks are AD based all of your attacks will start shredding through their armor.

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Don't have Cleanse? Or maybe it's not enough? Then pick up this great item, it can remove every single debuff in the game, Ignite, Children of the Grave, Infinite Duress and even Vladimir's Hemoplague.

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Got a hard champion with a lot of attack damage in your lane? Then build these boots and the damage they were doing to you will drop nicely, very helpful early game.

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* Red - Places you should ward in the lane phase to stop ganks
* Green - Places you should ward so you can defend Baron and Dragon
* Purple - Places to ward to counter the enemy jungler


Note: You should also think about picking up items like Vision Wards and Sight Wards which can be placed around the map to give you and your team nice map control and vision. Potions like Elixir of Fortitude are also helpful and can sometimes determine the win or loss of a fight.

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NOTE: YOU SHOULD NOT, IN ANY CASE FOLLOW THESE BUILDS EXACTLY. THEY ARE ONLY GUIDES AND YOU SHOULD BUILD DEPENDING ON YOUR CURRENT SITUATION IN THE GAME.

Early Game

Early game - What were wanting to do in the early part of the game is simple, we want to take our advantage of being really strong at this stage in the game and abuse it. Make sure you get Health Potions at level 1 so your able to do it safely. You should also think about getting some Sight Wards as soon as possible so your safe from ganks.

So this is what were going to do, usually I'll play safe at level 1, just last hitting to get those CS. If however my opponent chooses to get too close to me I'll make sure to punish him for that by auto attacking him (WE DONT WANT TO USE OUR Q AS IT WILL PUSH THE LANE AND WE DON'T WANT THIS). As soon as we hit level 2 we can start to be more aggressive and show the enemy who is in charge of this lane, when you can (try not to hit the creep wave) walk up to them (if possible) and begin using Broken Wings and when they attempt to run away use your Ki Burst to stop them and get an extra auto attack or 2 in.

Once we've done this, our opponent should either be chugging their Health Potions or go back. If they choose to stay in the lane and try survive on Health Potions keep repeating the same trick, they'll eventually die or have to leave. TIP : TRY TO AVOID CREEP WAVE AGGRO, THEY DO "TONS OF DAMAGE" EARLY GAME.

If your opponent decides to go back simply push your wave up to their tower (using your skills remember your manaless), MAKE SURE YOU GET AS MUCH CS AS POSSIBLE. Once you've pushed your wave up to the enemy tower your now safe to go back and buy.

Because we pushed our wave up to the enemy tower by the time our opponent gets back in lane they would have missed some CS, making them fall behind and also wont be able to push your tower while your away.

ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR POSSIBLE GANKS ON YOURSELF. THE ENEMY JUNGLER IS ALWAYS CLOSE BY.

REMEMBER TO GRAB HEALTH POTS IF YOU NEED THEM. YOU ARE IN NO WAY "WASTING" MONEY.

Mid Game

Around about now you should have your basic items (boots, maybe a Phage or The Brutalizer or both if your doing well), but now is the time to start working on those more expensives items like a B. F. Sword so you can really start to hurt people and a Giant's Belt so you become more Tanky and harder to kill.

Towards the end of Mid Game you should start turning those items into a The Bloodthirster and a Frozen Mallet.

BEWARE : MID GAME YOUR GOING TO START GETTING GANKED A LOT MORE, Sight Wards ARE A MUST.

Your also going to start to roam around the map and go to places where your team could use a hand (e.g. Dragon, ganks in different lanes or pushing a tower). Teleport can be helpful when doing this.

REMEMBER your combos when ganking, charge up Runic Blade and try to auto attack as much as possible while using Broken Wings is order to take advantage of that. Also remember the knock back you get from your 3rd slash of Broken Wings has. You should also try to use Ki Burst as much as possible in order to stop them, it may not be the longest stun in the game but it can help team mates catch up and help. Riven is also capable of tower diving using Valor.

Things to beware of when tower diving :

- What CC's the enemy your attacking has, how long that last etc.
- Where the rest of the enemy team is, could they be coming to help?
- Where is their jungler? Is he waiting for you?
- How fast can you burst them down? Taking too much focus from a tower can be deadly.


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You don't always have to roam around and help, I sometimes will stay in my top lane, continue to farm up without anyone trying to stop me and eventually push those top towers. Just in case your not aware how good pushing towers can be I'll tell you and give you some examples.

NOTE : YOU NEED STRONG TEAMMATES THAT ARE CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO GO INTO FIGHTS 4v5 AND COME OUT ON TOP FOR THIS TO WORK.

Example One : Let's say both teams are starting to group up around dragon to try and take it, if your still top you're never going to get down there in time. If you continued to push your top lane thats going to force some of the enemy team to back away from dragon and come to try defend it and stop you. If they do that your team can easily get a free dragon. If they don't you can get at least one free tower and possibly a second if they take their time.

Example Two : Same scenario as example one but instead there some sort of small team fight/ a lot of ganks happening other lanes and the enemy top need to go there to help them. Once again if they stay their team could end up giving away kills around the map and if they leave you can get a free tower.

I myself play with friends most of the time and I'm fully aware that they can handle themselves in different lanes without me, which allows me to continue to push and pressure other lanes.

Late Game

First off, even though it's late game and everyone is starting to finish their builds MAP VISION is still a big part in the game. Buy Vision Wards to help ward Baron and clear out the enemy wards. With enemy wards gone your free to go for Baron and they wont know when and with your own wards there you can defend against a Baron attempt at any time.

Second, it's late game have you got atleast one The Bloodthirster? IF NOT WHY NOT!? BAD BAD SUMMONER GO GET ONE RIGHT NOW! IT gives A LOT of AD, 100 at max stacks and 20 life steal? It's a must for any AD champ.

You should also be looking into picking up a Last Whisper, it will help you counter any armor that the enemy team build. If you start to see the enemy team pick up two or more items which give armor then get one as soon as possible.

Since the best things for Riven are AD and CDR and you've already got The Bloodthirsters and Last Whisper you should start looking at some items which can give you bonuses such as potions. Potions like Elixir of Brilliance, Elixir of Fortitude and Elixir of Agility can help a lot. From these potions you can get 10% cooldown reduction, an extra 235 health with 10 extra AD and finally 22% attack speed and 8% critical strike chance. Since each Pot costs 250 Gold each they're items that can't be ignored.

Of course team fights are going to be happening a lot more at this late stage and since it can be quite a big part of a game and depending how well you and your team do in those fights can determine who will win the game (if one team hasn't already). Because of this I have made a seperate chapter just for that below.

Team Fights

Riven's role in a fight is not a champion who charges in first (doing this will end in you dieing quickly), for me I like to wait and get into position (unless an enemy gets out of position and allows me to stun them close to my team). I like to get in the position to take out the most important champion on the enemy team which is usually an AD carry who can be squishy (the one who does the most damage basically).

WAIT DOES NOT MEAN WAIT 10 SECONDS, BY THAT TIME THE FIGHT WILL BE OVER.

What I mean by wait : wait 2-3 seconds either close to your allies or in a flanking position, by waiting this short amount of time most players will have used their burst to try and finish the fight quickly. Because they do this we should be safe to charge through them and reach the enemy carry. From there you and your team should be able to clean up the rest of the enemy team.

REMEMBER TO USE Blade of the Exile BEFORE YOUR BURST TO DO MAXIMUM DAMAGE.

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Another way you can approach a team fight is to lead second (making sure you are behind your teams tank). When engaging a team fight this way your going to have to use your Blade of the Exile instantly and get in the middle of the enemy team with Valor so you can do as much damage to all off them as possible using Broken Wings and Ki Burst.

What were doig with this type of engagement : using Valor to soak up as much damage as we can, use Broken Wings to try do as much AoE damage as possible and aim to get the 3rd hit to knock the enemy team out of position. We finally use Ki Burst to try and stun and disrupt the enemy team (try to aim for the most people or the important roles such as carry).

Pictures and Evidence that this guide works

Here I will be posting pictures from my own games as Riven to show everyone what the guide can do. I will also be accepting pictures from people who have used my guide and had a big success, so if you used my guide, did well and want to share it grab a print screen and send it to me through a PM with some sort of ImageShack link.

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Summary

To finish I'd like to say thanks for reading my guide, please vote and leave a comment if it helped you. I spent a lot of hours making this guide and as my first guide I've ever made I'm happy the way it turned out.

TO POINT OUT, this is a guide on how I play Riven, how I think Riven is best played. In order have success with this guide I feel you'll have to learn to be (if you are not already) just as aggressive as I am top. In Top lane I always get up in the enemies face and try to keep them out their lane as long as possible so I win on CS and I push the tower first. I hope this helped understand my guide a bit more.

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Thanks to...

I would like to say thanks to the following people,

- "Grammar Nazi" Dave
- jhoijhoi
- Everyone who looked at this guide :D


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A special THANK YOU to JhoiJhoi, her "how to make a guide" guide was a huge help and I'd like to thank her for letting the public use her dividers which are great. You can find JhoiJhoi's Guide HERE.

Updates

29/05/2012 - Guide Finished, please leave any suggestions or errors in the comments, I will be happy to help with any questions about the guide, Riven or the way I play her. If you want me to go over and re-do something again in more detail, just say.

29/05/2012 - Now in the Top 5 for Riven Guides, thanks to everyone who voted, viewed and commented.

04/06/2012 - Uploaded different images from my match history, some normal, some ranked. Currently working on getting my own videos to use throughout my guide.